4.0 Funding and ownership of fit-out

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Agencies are required to recognise and account for fitout assets that they control. Although agencies cannot own assets separately from the state, agencies deal with assets that they control as if the assets were owned by them.

Fitout assets can be acquired as follows:

through accommodation projects using agencies’ own funding

through backfilling fitted out space vacated by another agency

provided to agencies as the initial fitout in a new government office building

provided through the Office Accommodation Program

provided as a component of a lease when accommodation is leased from the private sector.

Agencies must account for these fitout assets acquired as described above and make provision for depreciation in accordance with Queensland Treasury’s requirements.

Fitout assets provided by the Department of Housing and Public Works, either as an initial fitout in a new building or through the Office Accommodation Program, or via fitout provided as part of a new lease, are transferred to the control of the tenant agency on completion of the project.

In the case of fitout acquired from the landlord in leased premises, advice should be obtained from the Accommodation Office, Department of Housing and Public Works to establish the status of the fitout ownership for depreciation and GST implications.

In the case of machinery-of-government changes or whole-of-Government accommodation requirement changes to office accommodation, existing fitout is generally left by the outgoing agency and reassigned to the incoming agency. This approach is more time and cost effective to government than arranging multiple fitout relocations. It is also impractical to relocate partitions and other fixed fitout.

All transfers of fitout assets, regardless of how they are acquired, are to be treated it the following way:

The outgoing agency (or the Department of Housing and Public Works) transfers the written down value at nil consideration via equity injection in Tridata to the incoming agency.

The recording of the written down value as income for no consideration as per 2.3.2 of the Non-Current Asset Policies of the Queensland Public Sector.

The transfer in the written down value via Equity (Non-reciprocal transfer at Government/Department of Housing and Public Works direction) is in accordance with Queensland Treasury Accounting Policy Guideline 13 of the Financial Reporting Requirements as an 'Other Non-reciprocal Transfer to/from Wholly-owned Queensland Public Sector Entities'.